A picture to understand the recycled polyester industry chain process- Jiaxing Fuda Chemical Fiber Factory

A picture to understand the recycled polyester industry chain process

In the field of recycled polyester, to put it simply, regeneration is the recycling of mineral water bottles that we usually drink. After crushing, cleaning, melting, and drawing, the recycled chemical fibers produced can be: 1. Used for spinning, 2. Used for non-woven use, 3. Used for filling. Of course, there are many sources of recycled raw materials, such as waste silk, foam materials, polyester scraps, sheet packing tapes, etc. At present, many the regeneration methods on the market are the above-mentioned physical methods. However, with the continuous upgrading of technology and the requirements of development trends, chemical methods are a popular trend, that is, After the waste textiles are recycled and processed, Depolymerization, purification, repolymerization and spinning. Physical methods only change the physical form, while chemical methods change the molecular structure.

There are many chemical methods. This article lists DMT and BHET.

(Click on the image to enlarge)

The comparison between physical and chemical methods is as follows:

Dimensions	physical law	chemical method
Core principles	Physical form change (melting, reshaping)	Chemical structure changes (depolymerization, repolymerization)
Product quality	Downgraded recycling (performance is generally lower than native, a few are comparable to native or some perform better than native)	Upcycling (performance equal to native)
Raw material requirements	High (needs to be clean and single)	Low (can handle mixed and colored waste)
Impurity treatment	Some cannot be removed	removable
cost	low	high
Application	Two-level differentiation: ordinary recycled fiber, non-food contact packaging, etc.; 3A sheets can produce high-end environmentally friendly fiber	High-end fibers, food-grade packaging, automotive parts, etc.

Physics is the main force, chemical method It is the future direction because it can realize a truly closed-loop cycle of "bottle to bottle" and "textile to textile". Especially favored by clothing brands and packaging giants . But limited by cost, technology and scale ( The technical threshold for large-scale and stable production is very high ), the current proportion is still very low. The key lies in the breakthrough of chemical method cost. If it can be lower than the original one and the product quality can be comparable, there will be a large market space in the future.